Nigeria’s Current Account Balance Rise To $4.5bn

Nigeria’s current account witnessed a positive outcome in the first quarter of 2018, recording a higher surplus of US$4.5bn as against a surplus of US$3.6bn in the previous quarter and US$3.4bn in the corresponding period of 2017.

The development was largely attributable to the increased export earnings and the net surplus in current transfers, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Apex bank on Friday, released its first quarter brief on balance of payments statistics, which revealed that provisional Balance of Payments (BOP) estimates for Q1 2018 showed a significant improvement in the country’s position as the overall balance of payments indicated a surplus of US$7.3bn compared with a surplus of US$6.2bn in the preceding quarter.

It also indicated a better position when compared to a surplus of US$2.9bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.

The surplus in the Goods Account increased to US$5.7bn in Q1 2018 from a surplus of US$5.5bn in the preceding quarter and US$2.3bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.

Export earnings rose by 10.2 per cent to US$14.4bn in Q1 2018 when compared with Q4 2017. It also indicated an increase of about 44.4 per cent when com-pared to Q1 2017.

Earnings from crude oil and gas, which accounted for 93.3 per cent of total export earnings during the review period, increased by 10.1 per cent to US$13.4bn in Q1 2018 when compared with the preceding quarter.

The report indicated that earnings from non-oil and electricity ex-ports also increased by 12.3 per cent to US$967.08m in Q1 2018 when compared with the preceding quarter.